KAMO – March, 2022 Newsletter
For comments related to this document, contact Mike

President?s remarks – Hello to all KAMO members and friends,
This is KAMO President Mark Walters with my monthly report. We had a teleconference Board of Directors meeting on March 23rd and it went very well. It was decided to have chapters pay dues this year unless they are really hurting and it was also decided to funnel $1000.00 to The Yellow River Chapter to help them get back on their feet.
I am currently putting some of my KAMO energy into this chapter and after just 60-days I am really impressed with the thought and motivation that I am seeing from its members. Specifically, speaking at a Whitetails Unlimited banquet and reserving the brat barn at Festival Foods in Marshfield on Saturday, May 7th. In reality the YRC is going to be fine and I honestly believe that any chapter could do these meet and greet events to build their core and recruit kids.
After I hit send on this letter I am heading to Red Lake, Ontario Canada and the day after I get home I will be speaking at the Whitetails Unlimited banquet at Beaver Dam the following day. This is a sold out 260 person event and I am going to do my best to get the KAMO word out. With that my friends, I have to say it’s literally time to hit the road, as always thank you for everything that you do for KAMO!
Mark

Upcoming Dates –
Youth Turkey weekend – April 16 – 17 Inland Trout –
Approximate last day of school – June 3rd

Board of Directors Meeting – Teleconference – Was held March 23rd at 7:00 pm. The Agenda
KAMO Annual Meeting – Not this year President vacancy- Still available
Chapter dues – $600 for chapters that can comfortably swing it.
Officer Elections – Every two years. May want to use your chapter?s starting year as a guide to odd or even year for officer election.
JoeHunt will be held if feasible – covid is behind us
Gmail accounts/ forms – Four chapters have Gmail accounts setup and two of those 4 have the electronic enrollment forms going. We won?t be meeting face to face this year in a convention format. – your chapter will have to be set up independently – for assistance setting up or using the forms for the first time, call Scott 608-406-6123 or Mike 608-799-5037.

The KAMO state treasury has money that we could be putting to work for us Suggestions so far. Do you have any ideas to add?:
1)Have a table at the MOHEE event and hand something out to the kids. This is in May – see below.
2)Set up a statewide scholarship with some of the funds.. Each chapter could pick schools in their area. Criteria requirements could be set on the scholarship such as a student who is going into an outdoor type of field, has attended a specified number of KAMO events. In time as word spreads maybe it could help get kids and keep them.
3)Develop a marketing campaign/ budget – Have someone, perhaps a college intern, focus on mentor recruitment in existing chapters. Also work on a new chapter in an area such as Madison or the Eau Claire/ Chippewa Falls area. See if community members near an existing chapter would be willing to form a ?sister chapter?.

Brochures – We had about 2,500 brochures on hand. Mike mailed about 1,000 out split between some chapters so they have a ready supply. Notice that the compass logo on the front of the brochure has an orange ?Tradition Forward? ribbon on it. There?s got to be an original copy of that logo somewhere and it would be nice to store for use – I can’t locate a copy of it.
The brochures cost 21 cents each. A little more when shipped. Use them wisely.

How to get kids tip
Free and Effective advertising – Take advantage of your local school district?s website. Take one brochure and an activity listing to your school district?s admin office. Complete a Distribution of Materials form. The district should be able to scan your documents and put them on their website for hundreds to view.
I (Mike) took a brochure and an activity listing of events for kids – April through mid-June to two district offices – Onalaska and Holmen recently. Of the 8 activities mentioned, only two fishing outings were Coulee KAMO initiated. The other 6 are another organization?s event that is being supported by at least one mentor such as the Nature Connection Days at Norskedalen.
American Legions – The legion in your area is probably working with kids groups. Promoting youth activities is part of their mission. Talk to someone there.

Interchapter Outing Potential – See Baraboo?s report. Their June camping outing could be a great place to bring kids and have a chance for mentor discussion. Joe Hunt also ago.

Hunter Ed – The online only was lifted for minors at midnight on March 20th. This has increased the demand for Hunter’s education (firearms safety) classes. The interest in classes is solid, but the classes themselves are slow to come back. Participants will come from a distance for a class, even to the point of staying in a hotel the night before. Also see Coulee?s report.

This from the DNR – Was in last newsletter – Important enough to repeat
The Midwest Outdoor Heritage Education Expo – MOHEE event is on for this year! It is being held at the Mackenzie Center in Poynette. The dates are Wednesday May 18th and Thursday May 19th.
We cannot do this without your help! We need 25-30 volunteers each day to make this happen. We will be mentoring school students shooting BB guns and archery.

March 30th – Update : over 2,000 kids signed up. Still short several volunteers.
Lunch, soft drinks, and water will be provided for volunteers each day.
If you volunteer both days and are traveling an hour and ½ or more, a double occupancy motel room will be provided if requested at a hotel in Lodi.
If you know someone who is not a hunter education instructor who would like to volunteer and you can vouch for that person, please ask them to volunteer. We would need the name, address, phone number, and e-mail address of that person.
We need to know if you are volunteering one day or both days. If you are volunteering one day, please let us know which one.
Parking will be in the upper parking lots and shuttle buses will be used to get volunteers around.
Please contact me if you want to volunteer, if you can recruit some new volunteers, that would be great. Arrival time for volunteers is 8AM both days to set up and be ready to go. The buses start arriving about 9AM.
If you need a hotel, please let me know ASAP! Please let me know if you have any questions!
Kim Cooley – 608-575-3615/ kimberly.cooley@wisconsin.gov

Chapter Reports

Baraboo – The Baraboo chapter had a meeting on 3/14 at Rivers Edge. With KAMO getting back on track, our chapter as well is planning to get back to business. We already have our annual camping trip booked for June 24-26 at the Juneau County park. Our annual Joe Hunt is a go for this year with the dates of December 9-11. We will have to reestablish contact with all our past landowners as we have been absent the past two years. We are definitely looking forward to giving those first hunting experiences to a group of kids again. We would also like to set up a fishing outing for sometime this summer. Tradition Forward

Rick

Coulee – Met on the evening of March 16th. Developed activity ideas for an activity list that was mailed out to parents. These activities were put on Facebook, Nextdoor.com, a local YMCA, a community center in the area, two school districts. The list was sent out electronically in a group mailing to parents and agencies.
A hunter ed class, connection event at Norskedalen near Coon Valley, 2 separate river clean-up events, two fishing invites. Thehunter education class was held indoors at the Onalaska American Legion during Saturday, the 2nd?s mix of rain/snow. 15 kids were certified

Dodge County Conservation – Dodge County Conservation KAMO had an event on Sunday March 27th. In downtown Beaver Dam. Art on Town was the place. 12 kids enjoyed making objects out of clay for their parents for Mothers day. We also will be having a table at the Dodge County alliance sportsmans rummage sale coming up in April. Our first raffle was a wonderful hit and there are just a few tickets left before we draw in May. Lots of exciting things being talked about for the upcoming summer. Stay tuned to our Facebook page and the Website.

Meadow Valley – We had 7 members and 2 visitors present at our last meeting. The New
Lisbon High School Principal(Mark Stampler) and the teacher (Julie Mecikalski) who has organized the New Lisbon Fishing Club came to the meeting to discuss further, KAMO’s involvement in their newly formed organization.They currently have 13 members in the club and plan todo 2 activities per month and are looking for mentor help. Our KAMOchapter is very Stampler is going to check on insurance coverage when conducting activities and Julie will be sending us an activity schedule. Aaron took 7 members of the fishing club to the Madison Fishing Expo as part of the club activities.
We will have one new mentor joining our chapter next month. We conducted elections for the President and Secretary positions. Jim Rydmark (President) and Janine Bigalke (treasurer) have agreed to remain as officers. Many thanks to these individuals for their
dedication to KAMO. Our Maple Syrup day was canceled due to weather not cooperating and a
lack of sap! A few members plan on participating in the Youth Turkey hunt program
with the NWTF.
Bob

Northwoods – Meetings scheduled for May.

Yellow River – We had one potential new mentor attend our March 16 meeting and will be inviting others to future meetings. Preliminary contact has been made with the director of the Marshfield YMCA Pryme Time youth group re: possibly partnering together. We will be attending the Spencer chapter Whitetails Unlimited banquet on April 12, where we have been given time for a short presentation on KAMO. We will also have a table set up for lit distribution. Our brat sale has been scheduled for May 7.

Keith Merkel